Vote now for the 2025 AFF 'Trip Report of the Year'

[AFF Editor]

Cast your vote now!​

Last year, we introduced the "Trip Report of the Month" award on AFF. Each month, the AFF team chooses their favourite member trip report from the previous month, with the winner receiving a special banner on their profile (which also links to their winning trip report) for that month.

We're doing this to recognise and show our appreciation to AFF members who've put a lot of time and effort into writing sensational trip reports that have informed and entertained us all.

Each of the year's "Trip Report of the Month" winners also become finalists to win our "Trip Report of the Year" prize.

We invite all AFF members to vote for their favourite Trip Report of the Month from 2025. The author of the trip report that gets the most votes will win the title of 2025 Trip Report of the Year, along with a complimentary AFF Platinum membership for a year (valued at $195)!

To cast your vote, simply select your favourite Trip Report on the poll in this thread. This year, each member may vote for up to 2 of their favourite trip reports. The voting deadline is Sunday, 14 December 2025.

See the post below for a full list of finalists. ​

 

[AFF Editor]

The candidates for 2025 'Trip Report of the Year'​

Here's an overview of this year's finalists:​

• January: "Xinjiang adventures. Deserts, grasslands and glaciers" by woodyren

Thread 'Xinjiang adventures. Deserts, grasslands and glaciers.'

Dec 18, 2024

Very late on this TR as we have just returned to Australia again after an extensive year of travel. We have probably spent around 7 months on the road and sea this year.

This particular TR covers 14 days in the middle of a much longer trip that included a cruise from Brisbane to Vancouver, flights and stays in Taiwan, Korea and China, a train trip from China to Laos, cruises and travel to other provinces while in China over a period of five months.

Rather than do a very lengthy TR covering the whole trip I have decided to break it into a few specific ones. The first report and probably...

• woodyren
• Replies: 75
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

• February: "A Boyhood Dream Fulfilled: Space-Geek Tour of the USA" by Human

Thread 'A Boyhood Dream Fulfilled: Space-Geek Tour of the USA'

Dec 31, 2024

As a child, I was obsessed with space travel. One of my earliest memories of school is my Kindergarten teacher sharing the news of the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz joint mission. I remember my fascination and excitement a year later when the Viking landers sent back the first ever colour photographs from the surface of Mars.

I have two enduring memories of the 1980s: first, poring over the photos of distant planets and moons from the Voyager space probes, while impatiently waiting for the next planetfall (Jupiter 1979, Saturn 1981, Uranus 1986, Neptune 1989 … sadly and frustratingly, no Pluto)...

• Human
• Replies: 283
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 
• 

• March: "[Republic of] Georgia on my mind" by kileskus

Thread '[Republic of] Georgia on my mind'

Jan 21, 2025

Istanbul - Batumi - Tbilisi - Baku (and some stops in between)



With the recent intriguing political developments in Georgia, and having not been to a CIS country in several years, I thought now would be a good time to visit. I had a few Velocity points to use prior to the upcoming changes so redeemed reward tickets on Qatar to Istanbul and then from Baku on the way back.

Georgia is a country of 3.7 million people. It's located east of Turkey, south of Russia, and west of Azerbaijan. It's known for being one of the first countries to convert to Christianity, having a lot of...

• kileskus
• Replies: 33
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

• April: "Lapland for the Polar Night, + Austria and France" by offshore171

O

Thread 'Lapland for the Polar Night, + Austria and France'

Jan 22, 2025

We have been planning a winter trip to Lapland in Northern Finland for a number of years, and I managed to find some award flights for the whole family from Tokyo to Helsinki, and return award flights from Paris back to Singapore.

With that, a trip was born.

Travelling party is a family of 2 adults 2 kids, and the travel was in Dec 2024-Jan 2025

The "polar night" is the period at high latitudes during which the sun does not rise at all.

It varies by Latitude, but In our part of Lapland, it goes from about the 12th of December until around 2nd January. You get about 5 hours of...

• offshore171
• Replies: 74
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

• May: "Wadis, Peaks, Souqs and Sands: Oman 2025" by Volando

Thread 'Wadis, Peaks, Souqs and Sands: Oman 2025'

Mar 29, 2025

The Sultanate of Oman has been on the bucket list for quite some time, but never quite reached the top of places to visit … until now. As a tourist destination it offers incredible landscapes from coral reefs, beaches and fjords to rugged mountains and desert sands as well as cities with rich culture, history and architecture from ancient ruins to the contemporary Sultan Qaboos Mosque in Muscat. I’m looking forward to sharing some of the highlights with AFF readers.


Collage of Oman highlights from the web

Booking

Several months ago 1022+1 and I decided to block...

• Volando
• Replies: 62
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

• June: "Hunting the Northern Lights: Tromso and Alta (Norway)" by ADLhighflyer

A

Thread 'Hunting the Northern Lights: Tromso and Alta (Norway)'

Apr 13, 2025

A few weeks ago, I got back from another amazing holiday – this time from the destinations of Tromso and Alta in Northern Norway. The aim of this trip: to try and view the Northern Lights again, whist enjoying the amazing scenery that Northern Norway has to offer!

Planning for this trip started way back in August/September of 2024 with a view to travelling with mum to Norway so she could view the lights and enjoy the scenery as much as I had done in my last visit there back in Nov 2022. She had seen my pictures from that trip and demanded (well, politely requested!) that she must go there...

• ADLhighflyer
• Replies: 60
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

• July: "Gone in 5 days: My Award Travel Heist" by somebol

S

Thread 'Gone in 5 days: My Award Travel Heist'

May 27, 2025

It’s been a while. A lifetime ago, really—back when no one called me “Dad,”. Those were the glory days of award travel, when points were plentiful, awards were cheap, and the biggest dilemma in life was “LX First or SQ Suites?”

These days, I’m the guy booking family trips 12 months out, desperately trying to find four award seats like I’m playing elite-level Sudoku with frequent flyer charts. I read other people’s trip reports the way some people read romance novels—wistfully, a little jealously, and with a glass of wine in hand. Those old travel instincts are still there… they just take...

• somebol
• Replies: 57
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 
• 

• August: "We bless the rains down in Africa, gunna take some time..." by bPeteb

Thread 'We bless the rains down in Africa, gunna take some time...'

May 22, 2025

You know that song. If you don't, look up the YouTube of Kristin Bell and her husband playing up to it.

I thought I'd get this started a bit early and with an intention of keeping this going real time, or as close as I can. I suppose that will depend on the internet out on those plains of Africa.

Anyways, in a week's time we'll be on our way to BNE for the first of three flights to get us to Nairobi, via SYD and JNB.

bAlt has decided to write the preface/preamble, and maybe some of the ongoing uupdates, so over to bAlt for the intro (with some input from me) -

Just a recap and...

• bPeteb
• Replies: 178
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

• September: "I'd do anything to spend time with my kids. Even go to Bali." by Human

Thread 'I'd do anything to spend time with my kids. Even go to Bali.'

Jul 6, 2025

This Trip Report won’t be for everyone. I’ve been in two minds for months over whether to write it at all. But there hasn’t been a Bali trip report on AFF for … well, for almost a whole year now. And the circumstances of this TR might be of some interest to at least a small subset of AFF readers.

It all started when my daughter got married in March 2024. She married a lovely young man, and after they announced their engagement I told them that I’d use my points to fly them in Business Class to anywhere in the world, for their honeymoon.

Somewhat to my relief, they chose New Zealand. So I...

• Human
• Replies: 80
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 
• 
• 

• October: "Drrons off to Asia with Lifemiles." by drron

Thread 'Drrons off to Asia with Lifemiles.'

Jul 11, 2025

So tomorrow we start our trip flying to Sydney and staying 3 nights. Tuesday it is off to BKK flying TG on Lifemiles J awards.
After 4 nights we are off to Hong Kong for 4 nights ten back to BKK. The flights are once again using Lifemiles for TG J awards. Long may this continue.

After another 4 nights in BKK it is SQ J awards via Velocity. BKK - SIN then the next day SIN - DRW for 3 nights before back to BNE.

Now I have been working hard on my mobility issues as documented in he Medical issues thread. Although getting much higher daily steps this is over many hours with step numbers per...

• drron
• Replies: 109
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

• November: "Portugal, Paris, Sicily and Florence" by ellen10

Thread 'Portugal, Paris, Sicily and Florence'

Aug 28, 2025

Well after reading so many wonderful trip reports, I am a little hesitant to start my own.
But as @VPS said just post lots of photos and make us envious.

We were fortunate to get some great mostly business class fares, curtesy of @madrooster . I really appreciate his Assistance and jmput.(these flights were booked late last year and I built my trip around it.

My passion is all things travel and I am ardent researcher and reader of travel forums.
I am writing this on a plane to Portugal, with wifi ( it’s a bit iffy), so I will see how it goes.

Brief summary:
A few days in...

• ellen10
• Replies: 155
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 
• 

• December: "Palaces and The Sahara" by n7of9

Thread 'Palaces and The Sahara'

Sep 21, 2025

I've always been iffy about posting a trip report. I'm not of the social media generation, and other than Reddit and AFF, have no actual social media profiles. I started a trip report last year on my trip to South Korea and Japan, but deleted it after a few days without posting. Earlier this year, though, I really enjoyed @Human's TR of KSC and it just made me happy following his travels and remembering my own time there... so here's my TR of London and Morocco.

I've booked a 9-day tour of Morocco - single menopausal woman with a Natural Resting coughface travelling alone in...

• n7of9
• Replies: 85
• Forum: Trip Reports

• 

 

[RooFlyer]

Gawd. Difficult!